CHF 3 Million for Terapet and two South Korea partners
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Terapet SA together with their South Korean partners Yonsei Cancer Center (Heavy Ion Therapy Center) and Oncosoft Inc. are awarded CHF 3 Million in non-dilutive funds through a bilateral innovation project funded by Innosuisse and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT).
Terapet SA, a Geneva-based CERN spin-off developing an innovative platform technology for imaging in nuclear medicine, announced the successful awarding of a total of about CHF 1’835’000 from Innosuisse and and KRW 1’500’000’000 from Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology , respectively, in non-dilutive funds.
The combined funding supports the development of a novel patient-specific quality assurance device for Heavy Ion Therapy (HIT) to be installed at Yonsei Cancer Center, the location of the first carbon ion therapy center in South Korea. A Collaboration Agreement Signing ceremony will be held at this year’s FARO-KOSRO 2023 congress, in Seoul, Korea. FARO-KOSRO is the largest radiation oncology congress in the Asia-Pacific region. The collaboration will officially start on 01.11.2023 and will run for the coming 3 years. All the partners in the consortium are fully funded.
About carbon ion therapy
Carbon ion therapy is an advanced treatment method for cancer and other tumor diseases. Compared to conventional x-ray radiotherapy, ion therapy has the advantage that healthy tissue surrounding the tumor receives less dose. This is because ions stop at a certain depth inside the patient, delivering a very high dose just before they stop (the Bragg peak). The dose beyond the tumor is close to zero. The lowered dose to healthy tissue is particularly important when treating children since they have a long life expectancy after treatment. Ion therapy is also superior for treating critical cancer types (e.g., brain tumors, prostate cancers) in which tumors are very close to critical organs, e.g., the brain, spine, optic nerves, etc.
About the Innosuisse-KIAT Consortium (109.136 INT-LS)
The bilateral Innosuisse-KIAT funding program aims to promote bilateral innovation projects between Switzerland and South Korea. Innosuisse has been cooperating with the South Korean innovation agency since 2013 with the aim of promoting bilateral innovation projects. Innosuisse and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) work together within the framework of the cooperation agreement signed in 2022.
The objective of this agreement is to encourage collaboration between Swiss and South Korean companies and research organizations to promote the exchange of knowledge and expertise, to establish sustainable partnerships and to increase business development opportunities. This enables companies to expand their competitive advantage by developing new products, improving technical processes or devising solutions. These innovations must offer added value for the economy, society or the environment.
Source: Press Release
📸 From left to right: Prof. Han (Professor of Yonsei Cancer Center), Dr. Chun (CSO of Oncosoft), Prof. Dong Wook Kim (Clinical Professor, Yonsei Cancer Center), Laura Acosta (Swiss Embassy Representative), Prof. Ik Jae Lee (Director of Heavy Ion Therapy, Yonsei Cancer Center), Dr. Christina Vallgren (CEO of Terapet), Herve Duffour (Sales and Market director of Terapet), Prof. Jin Sung Kim (Chief Medical Physicist of Yonsei Cancer Center & CEO of Oncosoft).